Real Estate Project Failures in Costa Rica, a Land of Gates and Money

Costa Rica is a land of undeniable natural beauty where the vast majority of its citizens exude the type of kindness and humility reserved for only the most pious of persons.

Calm and reserved (except when driving on the autopistas), these wonderful people have endured the ebb and flow of foreigners all wishing to soak in the beauty of a land with so much to offer.

One such individual conveyed a story to me of the “casisagua”, a mixed breed dog that we would commonly refer to as a “mutt” or “mongrel”, that appeared on the shores of Costa Rica sometime in the not-so-historic past. This true gentlemen of distinction in his 70’s relayed this fictional tale in the manner of a Hemingway short story, visibly enjoying and successfully revealing a message that is deeply ingrained in the culture and history of this nation.

The casisagua appeared in Costa Rica one day and like so many predecessors and so many successors claimed that “in Cuba he was a German Shepard”.

For centuries, foreigners have come to this tiny nation in Central America — the banana republic, the “island” that was never an island — claiming to be whatever they wanted to appear as, seemingly and naively believing that the Costa Ricans truly believed their fantastical stories of refinement, wealth and personal skill. The world believed that Costa Rica was a place of refuge, where one could start their life over no matter what their past entailed.

Realistically, this was true. For centuries the casisagua has intermingled with the Costa Rica people, along with those foreigners that actually did have refinement, wealth and skill — or maybe just one or two of the three. The roots of this folktale grew from the frequency and quantity of the arrival of this type of person, grounded in the rich soil of a country too welcoming and non-confrontational to challenge the foreigners’ assertions of great personal accomplishment in their native land.

In the past decade or so, Costa Rica saw the influx of foreign dollars at an all-time high for this small economy. Gates went up all over the country promising and alluring those with a little money to invest, a little dream to immerse in, or a little scheme to take part in, that riches or peaceful coexistence with nature (or both) was possible.

The allure of the gated community, although cognitively dissonant to the “one with nature” concept, promised the view of nature along with the security of suburbia’s Little Boxes.

Unfortunately, a particular type of casisagua saw the opportunity, even trained some Ticos to follow in his footsteps, and started promising the tourists that dreamed of retiring in this tropical nation everything that one could want was just around the corner — in their gated community.

As quickly as the Little Boxes appeared in the U.S. and Canada, the Gates were erected as monuments of the future and some communities succeeded by building pseudo-suburbia behind walls.

The vast majority of Gates simply remained gates; behind them a myriad of half-finished infrastructure and some ticky-tacky for good measure. Many of these defunct communities simply sat there with nothing but their Gate attesting to what could have been, while the casisagua left with the money or hid from the investors that voluntarily gave them their savings.

The irony is that Costa Rica inevitably is blamed for these losses, cursed as a backward nation with no rule of law, while this type of casisagua perches in his ocean view home overlooking the Gates seemingly impermeable to consequences of his actions.

Thankfully, this is not always the case. Costa Rica may have its challenges, certainly with its share of corruption and methods that do seem outdated to many foreigners, but as deeply ingrained in the culture of acceptance of the casisagua is the polite refusal to trust anyone absolutely.

These misgivings have indubitably led to a culture with two faces — one offering a smile and the other speaking secretly about the genuine doubt of these interlopers. Sadly though, the casisagua has left his historic footprint and it has become ever so difficult to deal with him accordingly — although that is changing.

Case in point, I own property in a gated community in the central pacific which has succeeded despite the casisaguas. Sure, financial records have disappeared, community money has been spent without any accounting, and individuals continue to promise everything the naïve would want by investing in this community.

Two such individuals have managed to carve out their own world of make-believe, convincing many people of their great refinement, wealth and skill. Digging a little deeper into their stories inevitably lead to a trail of mediocrity, bankruptcy and lawsuits in their home country while they perch themselves above the rest in a country they believe is consequence-free.

These two individuals have an interesting past and will remain nameless for the purpose of this example as legal action is pending; however, they come from a remarkably polite state in the U.S. where southern charm is high on the list of admirable qualities. Painted with too many colors to count, their business dealings in their home state are splashed with lie upon lie in a multitude of fictional stories forming an abstract piece of art that can only be called remarkable.

Of course, it is not extraordinary in the sense that one would want to purchase this artwork, but in the sense that one should be undeniably intrigued by the audacity in the “achievement” of the painters. Regrettably for some, their artwork has been purchased, as one would say, hook, line and sinker.

In the U.S.A., they apparently built some homes as “developers” and certainly invested in real estate, moving properties around like a shell game. They accrued some assets through whatever means and managed to convince a bank to lend them over 4.5 million dollars for development of a community in their home state. Today they have no assets in the U.S., no development, and a court judgement for their respective shares of that debt.

They do however have significant assets hidden in corporations in Costa Rica and although one is simply avoiding the debt by living in Costa Rica, the other has actually filed for bankruptcy claiming no assets while visiting Costa Rica frequently to vote for the numerous lots or houses that this collective owns, or simply to vacation on the 4th of July in some sort of defiant and bastardized version of their Independence from consequences.

The claims the bankrupt individual makes in the legal documents attained from the courts in his home state read more like the ramblings of the mentally deranged than simply the lies of a con man. One of the depositions attained reminds me of the story revealed by Keyser Söze in The Usual Suspects, except less believable and far less intelligent. In this tale, the casisagua tells of his unfortunate luck in Costa Rica where much of his net worth, and clearly all of the money to repay the bank, seemingly disappeared since the country is clearly backward and has no respect for the rule of law.

This is the only believable thing in the entire deposition of over 300 pages, simply because as said, many have lost their savings to the Gates. The contradiction in this case is the fact that this individual continues to fly to Costa Rica to build houses on lots and sell homes that they claimed prior to the court judgement as their own, but now apparently do not — hidden behind many corporations and using a single patsy “legal representative” that clearly has no idea how much trouble will befall him in the U.S. if he is implicated in their fraud.

Not only does this casisagua cast aspersions on the very country that has unknowingly allowed him to hide money from debtors, but he uses the plight of many other unfortunate individuals to conceal his devious intentions.

Thankfully, Costa Rica is not a backward nation with no respect for the rule of law and although there is very little one can do for those who threw their money into the Gates that exist all over the country, there is recourse on criminals that knowingly defraud the government and debtors of their home country, denigrate the country they hold significant assets in, and simply lie to their neighbours who do have refinement, wealth and skill.

In a country as beautiful as Costa Rica, there is a place for those casisaguas that do no harm and only tell tall tales, but there is no place for the kind of mongrel that uses this country and their people to steal from others.

One day soon as these kinds of people are publicly chastised and held accountable, I am hopeful, we will see the Land of Milk and Honey replace the Land of Gates and Money.

To describe a street mutt or a mixed breed dog in Spanish in Costa Rica the Ticos would use either: “Sarnosos”, “zaguates” o “casisagua”.

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Andrew Makarik

to@welovecostarica.com

Andrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.